Starving isn't so bad anymore (Don't Starve Together Fanfiction)

Chapter 5: Vote

"Papa, wake up already!" Whitney exclaimed as she bludgeoned me with her little stuffed hound, made out of real hound hide. 

"I'm up, I'm up..." I said groggily while sitting up.

"Come on Papa, I wanna go play." 

I yawned and smiled down at my daughter. Say what you want about her, but Whitney was a sweet little girl in her parents eyes even if a few other members of the camp thought she was a little devil.

"Honey go play in the wall with Wendy for a little while, your mother and I will be out in a few moments."

Whitney pouted for a bit before sighing and saying "Fine Papa... At least big sis Wendy isn't some kind of geezer..." she finished with a sly smile.

One part of me was happy she inherited both her parents wit and attitude but the other part of me was fixating on where the hell she learned the word geezer.

I stretched a bit before climbing out of bed, reaching for by clothes. I'm very glad that Whitney simply beats us with her stuffed animal and doesn't pull our blanket off since Willow and I aren't exactly modest while we sleep.

As I was putting my pants on Willow stirred and propped her head up on her hand.

"Good morning," she said sweetly, "I take it Whitney came by with her usual wake up call?"

"Yes, she wanted to play so I sent her to Wendy."

Willow shook jokingly and said "She is a bit harder to deal with since puberty."

I nodded in agreement as I buttoned up my shirt. Wendy was only seven when I showed up and now she's thirteen. She was startling when she was seven and the past six years have only magnified that. Somehow Abigail seemed to match Wendy's age despite her being dead.

"Before you try pulling me back down there try to remember that we have that vote to take care of." I said buttoning my vest and pulling my arm length fingerless gloves on.

She perked up at that, as if she forgot about it, and took the bra I handed her.

"I'm going to go gather everyone while you finish getting dressed. And try to keep Whitney and Wendy from getting into trouble." I said as I finished tying my shoes.

She nodded as I walked out.

"Alright everyone! Grab a seat cause we have something to tell you." Willow yelled as everyone gathered around the bonfire.

"Oh this is sure to be great." Wickerbottom said sarcastically as Woody helped her sit down, her age starting to take its toll on her.

"Shut it you old goat." Willow responded as I prepared to tell everyone the news.

"Alright everyone. Recent events have brought to light a few interesting details of this world. Maxwell, of Maxwell's duplicate rather, is alive. Charlie has been keeping him alive for some reason, though whether it's because of sentimental reasons or for vengeance I don't know, and he is less than happy. Recently he has asked me to find some kind of book that rests on an altar that will free him or so he believes, and in doing so he disclosed that there are other islands we can travel to. I'm assuming said mode of transportation would be a boat."

There was a silence for a bit, some people contemplating what they'd just heard while others weren't all that shocked. Whitney practically had stars in her eyes upon learning there may be another island.

"Now that you all know the situation, Willow wanted to put it up to a vote whether or not we would actually try sailing to another island. All in favor of traveling to another island raise your hand."

And with that Willow, Wendy, Wigfrid, Webber, Whitney, and I raised out hands. We won by majority.

"Alright. WX-78 and I will design and build the boat. Woody and Wolfgang with gather the wood needed. Wigfrid and Webber will gather the leather and hide we will need for a sail. Wickerbottom look through your books and see if you have anything about sailing."

We all started breaking off, Wendy content with her job as babysitter, when Willow stopped me.

"What's my job?" she asked with crossed arms.

"Oh... Hmm..." I hadn't thought of a job she could do that fitted her talents, fire and boats didn't exactly mix unless you were performing a viking funeral but I decided to keep that information from reaching Wigfrid. "Well I'm sure Whitney will want to decorate the ship when it's done and I have no doubt in my mind she'll want us to help or at least watch."

She smiled and kissed my cheek. 

"Nice save, even if you did forget to give me a job. I'll just help gather hide and leather. I feel like we'll need a lot for a big enough sail."

And with that she went the same way as Wigfrid and Webber.

"Alright WX-78 let's start sketching some design." I said as he and I walked away.